With the development of the Internet, social network sites have become very popular. For instance, social network sites such as MySpace®, Facebook®, and Bebo® have attracted millions of users. Typically, a social network comprises web-based services that allow individuals to construct a profile within a bounded network, identify lists of other users as connections, and interact with users on their lists and with users on other lists via these connections established within the network. Thus, in various social networks, the critical features of the networks are the profiles of various users and the connections (relationships) established among these profiles. In many instances, a user of a particular social network is required to identify others (e.g., “friends”) in the network to establish these connections. For example, a user in Facebook® searches the other users of Facebook® and requests a particular user's friendship to establish a connection with that user. In this particular case, the particular user must confirm the user's request to establish the connection.
Further, in particular social networks, the public display of these connections is a critical component of the network. For example, a user may visit a “friend's” profile in the network and may view the “friend's” list of friends. In many instances, the “friend's” list of friends will include links to each friend's profile found on the list. This allows the user to traverse the social network to view other user's profiles and discover other users that the user may wish to befriend. Thus, in these instances, the connections in the social network are established by users of the network identifying and establishing connections with each other.
However, such networks only provide limited or no mechanisms for allowing users to identify and to connect with other users that may have common interests. For instance, Facebook® allows a user to set up a fan page that may be tied to a particular interest. However, the fan page basically represents a member page within the network without the functionality of a member. Therefore, a need exists for a social network that allows for connections (relationships) to be established based on interests.